A blue sky sunny day to wake up to with the added backdrop of the sea behind the town below us. After breakfast we walked down into the old town and explored shops and the main street in which St Mary's Parish church the jewel in the crown. It's one of Wales's largest parish churches with a 152ft spire. It was built between the 13th and 15th centuries, beautifully designed to produce a well lit interior, noticeable on a sunny day. We'll be here again for the Eucharist tomorrow morning.
There's a delightful market hall on the same street with a superb organic wholefood shop at the main entrance in addition to the range of craft stalls including one that sells a variety of unusual jams and chutneys. At some stage, the hall roof has been renovated to admit as much light as possible and a light coloured wooden panelling ceiling surround adds to the interior brightness. It's a venerable old trading space which breathes variety and colour, a credit to its conservators. I had a chat with the man running the wholefood shop and expressed my delight at finding such an excellent retail offer, better than Beanfreaks, in fact. He seemed pleased to get such positive feedback.
When we started thinking about returning for lunch, we were standing outside a pub called 'The Hope and Anchor' opposite the house where Admiral Lord Nelson is said to have stayed when off duty I suppose, when his fleet was anchored in Milford Haven eighteen miles away by road, but probably quicker by boat two hundred years ago. The pub was busy, so Clare suggested lunch there tomorrow after church, and we booked a table. A lobster treat for her, hopefully. Heaven knows what for me, until I see the menu.
We walked back to Bryn y Mor and had sea bass for lunch. The, while Clare was having a siesta I sat in the sun outside and made a couple of efforts to sketch the most interesting part of the townscape that I could see in the distance. It's the first time I've done this since the turn of the century, I think. Challenging, but also satisfying. Then we walked down the hill to the place where the footpath to Amroth starts. It goes up the hill alongside a municipal cemetery dating back to the early 19th century. The old cemetery chapel has been converted into a dwelling. Some of the older monuments still remain, others have been laid flat or demolished, but the higher up the hill you go the graves start to be dated in the 20th century. One family grave had been reopened a few months ago for a 21st century burial.
The older sections reveal an interesting array of names and professions of Parish residents. Many non-local people buried here were military men and their families retired from serving with colonial forces. This helps explain why there are so many fine residential buildings in the area above the harbour adjacent to the medieval town walls. In addition there are occasional tombstones of men from both World Wars. At the top end, there's a path through a boundary hedge to an all new section, with a garden area for cremated remains and a big area of uniform sized tombstones in black marble. Some parts of the older section are no longer fully maintained, where there are no longer relatives to visit or help with upkeep. These are now overgrown and provide a refuge for wildlife. Who could possibly object?
Clare want to return and recover from the half mile hill climb. I ventured further into town, to rediscover the area inside the medieval walls. It's been mostly taken over by restaurants, pubs, clubs and takeaways, and the town's young people and visitors were turning out in force as evening was approaching, for a night of festive fun and leisure. I turned for home and arrived just as the sun reached the horizon. Earlier the sky clouded over and there were a few light showers of rain but it didn't last long. As the clouds broke up, they turned pick in the sight of the setting sun. When I took a photo the waxing gibbous moon stood right over the spire of St Mary's church. A wond'rous sight.
Supper, then some writing, and then more 'Bordertown' to finish the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment